The Merovingians (French Mérovingiens, German Merowinger or Merovinger) are the first dynasty of Frankish kings in the history of France. The kings of this dynasty ruled from the end of the 5th to the middle of the 8th century in the territory of modern France and Belgium.
They came from the Salic Franks, who settled in Cambrai (Chlodion Longhair) and Tournai (Childeric I) in the 5th century. Contemporaries also called the Merovingians “long-haired kings” (Latin: reges criniti).
From pagan times until their fall, the Merovingians wore long hair, which was considered an obligatory attribute of the monarch. The Franks believed that the Merovingians had sacred magical power, which consisted in the extremely long hair of their owners, and was expressed in the so-called. “royal happiness”, which personified the well-being of the entire Frankish people. This hairstyle separated him from his subjects, who wore short haircuts, popular in the Roman era, considered a sign of the low status of a servant or slave. Cutting off hair was considered a grave insult to a representative of the Merovingian dynasty; in practice, it meant the loss of rights to have power (an example of this is Chlodomir’s son Chlodoald, later known as Saint Claude).
The Merovingians became the first royal family in the territory modern France. They received their surname from an ancestor named Merovey. There are the most incredible hypotheses regarding the origin of this dynasty, ending with outright speculation. Members of the Merovingian family continue to influence the course of world history well into the twentieth century. According to one theory, the Thule occult society was created to return the European thrones to the Merovingians, but Adolf Hitler and his fascist party intervened and prevented this from happening.
Speaking about incredible theories of the origin of the Merovingians, I would like to mention one of the most striking. According to the French writer Gerard de Sede, the Merovingians were the descendants of mixed marriages between aliens from outer space and the ancient Israelites. Another theory about the origin of the Merovingian dynasty states that the founder of the family was Merovech, a man who had two fathers, one of the human race, and the second of a mythological creature. According to legend, his mother was already pregnant with King Chloyo's child when she was seduced by the mythological creature Cunotaurus while swimming in the ocean. The Merovingian dynasty was more sacred than truly ruling. In fact, the country was ruled by advisers called “majordomos.”
The kings of the Merovingian dynasty never cut their hair and had a birthmark in the form of a red cross on their backs. They wore clothes trimmed with tassels. These brushes, according to legend, had healing properties. In one of the burials of the dynasty they found a golden bull's head, a crystal ball and several miniature golden bees. One legend says that the Merovingians were descendants of the inhabitants of Troy. Homer wrote that Troy was founded by Arcadian colonists. According to the documents of the Priory of Sion, the Arcadians were descendants of the Benjamites, who were expelled from Palestine by their kindred Israelites for idolatry.
King Clovis of the Merovingian dynasty made a pact with the Roman Church: he would restrain the Church's enemies, the Aryan Visigoths and the pagan Langoberians, in exchange for recognition of his right to rule the new Roman Empire as "Newly Elected Constantine." This agreement remained in force after his death, until the moment when his descendant King Dagobert II was killed. Rome recognized the claims made by the assassin's family to the throne, and soon after, Charlemagne (Charlemagne) was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The Roman Church believed that the Merovingian dynasty was destroyed, but there are records that Dagobert's son, Sigeberd IV, survived. It is said that the Merovingian royal line was continued in Septimania by Guillemme de Gellon, the ancestor of Godefroy of Boulogne.
Mythical and legendary ancestors
For a long time it was believed that the first leader of the Franks from the Merovingian dynasty was Pharamond, the son of Marcomir. This version appeared and spread back in the Middle Ages, but later historians could not find evidence of the existence of this leader and came to the conclusion that he did not exist. In addition, medieval chroniclers wrote that Pharamond and the subsequent kings of the Franks were descended from the Trojans, who survived and arrived in time immemorial in the territory of Gaul. There are numerous discrepancies here - most often the ancestors of the Merovingians were called King Priam or the hero of the Trojan War Aeneas.
Origin of the name
According to legend, one of the ancestors of the kings of the Merovingian dynasty was the leader of the Salic Franks, Merovey, who ruled from approximately 448 to 457. It is to him that the Merovingians owe the name of their dynasty. Historians have questioned its very existence, but the Merovingians were convinced that it once existed and were proud of their descent from it. According to legend, Merovey was born by Chlodion's wife from a sea monster.
Brief historical overview
Most historians recognize the first historical leader of the Salic Franks as Childeric (about 457 - about 481), the son of the legendary Merovey. It was under him that the future territory of the Frankish kingdom began to expand. He fought under the leadership of the Roman commander Aegidius against the Visigoths and supported the commander Paul in the fight against the Saxons.
But the true founder of the kingdom of the Franks is Childeric's son Clovis (c. 481-511), grandson of Merovey. He pursued an active policy of conquest and significantly expanded the possessions of the Franks, becoming the founder of the Frankish Kingdom (lat. Regnum Francorum). Clovis annexed the north of Gaul to his lands, having won a victory over Syagrius in 486, who declared himself “king of the Romans” in the lands between the Loire and the Seine. Then he expanded the borders of his kingdom up to the upper Rhine, defeating the Alamanni at the Battle of Tolbiac in 496. Around 498, Clovis was baptized and thereby received the support of the Gallo-Roman nobility and clergy. Throughout his reign, Clovis carried out numerous raids on the lands of the Visigoths, finally defeating them in 507 at the Battle of Vouille. In addition, during his reign, “ Salic truth", and Paris became the capital. Clovis marks the beginning of the so-called “Merovingian period” in the history of France, which lasted from the end of the 5th century to the end of the 7th century.
According to German tradition, after the death of Clovis, the kingdom was divided between his four sons: Theodoric became king of Reims, Clodomir - of Orleans, Childebert - of Paris and Clothar - king of Soissons. The fragmentation of the kingdom did not prevent the Franks from uniting their efforts for joint action against the Burgundians, whose state was conquered after a protracted war in 520-530. The annexation of the region of the future Provence, which turned out to be bloodless, also dates back to the time of the sons of Clovis. The Merovingians managed to achieve the transfer of these lands from the Ostrogoths, who were embroiled in a long war against Byzantium.
In 558, all of Gaul was united under the rule of Chlothar I, who ruled it until his death in 561. But he also had four heirs, which led to a new division of the state into three parts - Burgundy (in the east of the Frankish kingdom, in the territory former state Burgundians), Austrasia (in the northeast of Gaul, including the ancestral lands of the Franks along the banks of the Rhine and Meuse) and Neustria (in the northwest with the center in Paris). In the southwest was Aquitaine, which was considered common territory all three Frankish kings.
All Germanic peoples had a tradition of hereditary division of property: after the death of the king, all his male children had to receive their share, since the kingdom was considered the personal property of the previous ruler. Consequently, the kingdom was constantly fragmented, and the desire to gather as much territory as possible under its rule led to fratricidal conspiracies and wars. For example, after the death of Chlodomir, Childebert and Clothar united and killed the young heirs of their brother, and divided his kingdom among themselves. In addition, in the early Middle Ages, blood feud was still widespread, so one murder entailed a whole series of new conflicts, battles and secret conspiracies.
An example of this is the Forty Years' War (575-613) between two Frankish queens - Fredegonda, the wife of the King of Neustria, and Brunnhilde, the wife of the King of Austrasia. In the end, Fredegonda's son Clothar II (613-628) managed to unite the three Frankish kingdoms under his rule, overthrowing and brutally executing Brünnhilde. He was able to achieve this thanks to the support of the local nobility and clergy, as he pledged not to interfere in their affairs, which significantly strengthened the landowning magnates, counts and bishops.
After the death of Clothar II, he was succeeded by his two sons - Dagobert and Charibert. Dagobert's reign (629-639) was particularly successful, as he was able to briefly strengthen the prestige of royal power and pursue a successful policy of conquest. He managed to annex the lands of the Alemanni to his kingdom, made several campaigns in Italy, Spain and the Slavic lands of Central Europe, and even briefly captured Brittany. But to support the nobility and clergy, Dagobert had to distribute lands, which exhausted the reserves of the state land fund (fiscus). Dagobert died in 639 and was buried in the basilica of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, which from that moment became the main tomb of the French kings.
Despite the short-lived strengthening of royal power under Dagobert, majordomos (lat. major domus - palace manager) gained more and more power in all three kingdoms. They were in charge of the income and expenses of the royal court, commanded the guards, and acted as representatives of the kings before the nobility. The period of inaction of kings and the actual rule of majordomos is usually called the period of “lazy kings.”
But still, the name and sacred status of the Merovingians allowed the heirs of Dagobert to remain in power for some more time. For example, Sigebert III, son of Dagobert, was revered by the Franks as a saint. Therefore, the attempt of the majordomo Grimoald the Elder to remove Dagobert II, the son of Sigebert, from power ended in the execution of Grimoald. The story of Dagobert II, removed from power by the mayor (he was sent to Ireland, but he returned), became the starting point of the historical fantasy of M. Baigent, R. Ley and G. Lincoln about the salvation of the Merovingians.
The fall of the Merovingians dragged on for a century. After the failure of Grimoald, the mayors sought to use the sacred status of the kings in the political struggle: after the defeat of Austrasia in the war against Neustria, the powerless Austrasian king was taken to Paris, which meant the loss of Neustria's independence. In the second half of the 7th century, the Frankish state disintegrated again, but in the first third of the 8th century it was united by Charles Martell, the powerful winner of the Battle of Poitiers. Despite his successes, Charles did not dare take the throne. For a long time, the majordomo, who took the title of viceroy instead of the throne, chose a different tactic. The throne remained vacant until the sons of Charles Martel elevated Childeric III, who had until that time been imprisoned in a monastery, to it.
Mayor Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martel, suppressed external and internal enemies, and then decided to destroy the fictitious royal power of the Merovingians. After negotiations with Pope Zechariah, Pepin was anointed and proclaimed king of the Frankish kingdom. The last Merovingian, Childeric III, was shaved and imprisoned by Pepin in a monastery in November 751.
The Merovingian state was still largely pagan. It is equally important that Christianization did not have the status of state policy in it: the Catholic faith was spread by volunteer missionaries, often arriving from neighboring regions. Such preachers in the 5th-7th centuries converted pagans living in the interior regions of the Frankish state - in the vicinity of Paris, Orleans, etc. The influence of the pope in the Frankish state was practically unnoticeable. It is significant that the overthrow of the Merovingians (taking into account past unsuccessful attempts) also required the sanction of the pope.
Merovingians in modern culture
In the book The Da Vinci Code by D. Brown, the Merovingians appear as the descendants of Jesus Christ, which Brown borrowed (along with the entire pseudo-historical part of the Code) from the book The Sacred Riddle by Baigent, Lay and Lincoln.
In the movie "The Matrix" one of the characters is called Merovingian...
In A. Martyanov’s books “Fafnir” and “World Crisis,” the descendants of the Merovingians form a secret society that strives to regain power. In the “Messengers of the Times” cycle, the Merovingians appear as the descendants of Jesus and the ancestors of the dynasty of counts of Toulouse, which is the reason for their enmity with the French kings.
Merovingians - one of the most mysterious dynasties in Europe
The mystery of the Merovingian dynasty is even more foggy than the mystery of the Cathars and the Knights of the Temple - reality and fiction are so closely intertwined here. Descended from the Sycambri, a Germanic tribe better known as the Franks, the Merovingian family ruled during the 5th and 6th centuries over vast territories that became France and Germany. Let us not forget that this era was also the era of King Arthur and served as the backdrop for the great romantic Grail cycle. Without a doubt, these years, the darkest of the time which was incorrectly called the “dark Middle Ages,” are in our eyes much less gloomy than they were deliberately obscured.
Education and culture, as we know, were at that time the monopoly of the Catholic Church, and the information relating to this period that we have comes from its sources, the Church, the rest has disappeared or been destroyed. Sometimes, fortunately, despite the silence or ignorance that has surrounded this era for too long, despite the veil that a caring hand has thrown over their secret, some detail might leak out and reach us. A word, a date suddenly emerged from the shadows, and thanks to them, it was possible to restore a fascinating reality, so different from what official History had taught us.
The origin of the Merovingian dynasty is fraught with numerous mysteries. Indeed, the concept of dynasty usually evokes a family or "house" reigning in the place from which predecessors have disappeared, been expelled, or have been deposed. Thus, the War of the Scarlet and White Roses in England was marked by a change of dynasties; then, a hundred years later, the Tudors disappeared and the Stuarts ascended the throne, in turn through the Houses of Orange and Hanover. There was nothing like this in the history of the Merovingians - no usurpation, no rudeness, no extinction of the previous dynasty. It seems that they have always ruled France and have always been recognized as its rightful kings. Until the day when one of them, whom fate marked with a special sign, gave his name to the dynasty.
The historical reality concerning this Merovech (Merovech or Meroveus) is completely hidden by legend. This is an almost supernatural character belonging to the great classical myths, even his name testifies to his miraculous origin, for in him the French words “mother” and “sea” find an echo.
According to the chief Frankish chronicler and subsequent legend, Merovei was born of two fathers. Indeed, they say that, already pregnant, his mother, the wife of King Clodio, went to swim in the sea; there she was seduced and kidnapped by a mysterious sea creature - “the beast of Neptune, similar to the Quinotaurus,” also a mythological animal. Perhaps this creature made the queen pregnant a second time, and when Merovei was born, two different bloods flowed in his veins: the blood of a Frankish king and the blood of a mysterious sea monster.
A common legend from antiquity and subsequent European traditions, you say. Of course, but like all legends, it is far from being completely fictional, but is symbolic and hides a specific historical reality behind its wonderful appearance. In the case of Merovey, this allegory means the transfer of foreign blood to him by his mother or the mixing of dynastic families, the consequence of which was that the Franks were associated with another tribe that came, perhaps, “from across the sea.” Over the years and with the development of legends, it, for some unknown reason, turned into a sea creature.
The period of the reign of the Frankish dynasties of the Merovingians and Carolingians (450-987) covers the entire early Middle Ages. After numerous Germanic tribes invaded the Roman Empire and completely destroyed it in the 4th-5th centuries, power over Gaul passed into the hands of the Franks, who began to unite its lands under their leadership. The monarchs of the Merovingian and then Carolingian dynasties created a state formation, the historical core of which was the region between the Loire and the Rhine, and the eastern limits included a vast region of Germany.
Origins
Early Frankish period
In the second quarter of the 5th century, various Frankish tribes began their advance south. In the regions of the middle Rhine and along the banks of the lower tributaries of the Moselle and Meuse, the Ripuarian Franks settled, and the Salic Franks settled on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Subsequently, some of the latter populated the cities of Tournai and Cambrai, and also reached the banks of the Somme River. A group of Franks living along the ocean coast were divided into many small kingdoms. One of the most influential was formed around Tournai, and its ruler was Childeric (died c. 481/482), who was considered the son of the legendary king Merovey, from whose name the name of the Merovingian dynasty comes. It is known that Childeric voluntarily entered the service of the Roman Empire.
Gaul and Germany at the end of the 5th century
Even before the arrival of the Franks, other Germanic tribes managed to settle in the territory of Gaul. The region south of the Loire was divided between the two tribes. One of them was the Visigoths, who occupied Aquitaine, Provence and most of Spain; their king Eurich (reigned 466-484) was at that time the most influential monarch of the West. Another tribe, the Burgundians, took control of most of the Rhone River valley. In the north of Gaul, the Alemanni occupied Alsace and continued to move westward, wedging between the Franks and Burgundians. Meanwhile, the first settlers from the British Isles landed on the coast of Armorica (modern Brittany). A significant part of Gaul was still under the control of the Roman governor Afranius Syagrius, who located his administration in Soissons.
Despite the huge number of Germans who filled it, Gaul continued to adhere to the Roman way of life. Here, in many respects, it was possible to preserve the administrative system, which was subjected to severe tests during the political crisis of the 5th century. Traditional Roman civilization survived at least in its highest form; This was especially noticeable in the circles of high society. The urban centers founded during the Roman Empire continued to play a central role in political, social, economic and religious life. In addition to everything, the Germans themselves managed to undergo Romanization. To a greater extent, this process affected the Burgundians and Visigoths, who had already lived for a long time within the Roman Empire, and to a lesser extent the Franks and Alamanni, who only recently invaded its lands. On the other hand, the attitude of the Romans towards the Burgundians and Visigoths, who adopted Arianism (a heretical form of Christianity) as their religion, was more hostile than towards the pagan Franks and Alemanni.
In essence, the Germanic tribes that invaded Roman Gaul represented only a small part of the Germanic world. The North Germans (Angles, Jutes, Saxons and Frisians) continued to hold the coastal regions North Sea west of the Rhine; The Thuringians and Bavarians divided among themselves the territory between the Elbe and the Danube. Slavic tribes occupied the areas located beyond the Elbe.
Merovingians
Clovis I and the unification of Gaul
Frankish expansion
Clovis I (r. 481/482-511), heir to King Childeric I, managed to unite the lands of Gaul under his rule (the only exceptions were the provinces in the southeast). According to data from the chronicle of Gregory of Tours (rather contradictory in the opinion of modern scholars), Clovis was able to strengthen the position of the Franks in northern Gaul already during the first years of his reign. In 486, Clovis defeated Afranius Syagrius, the last Roman governor in Gaul, and in further campaigns, with significant support from the Gallo-Roman nobility, occupied the territory between the Frankish kingdom of Tournai, the Visigothic and Burgundian kingdoms, and lands controlled by the Ripuarian Franks and Alamanni. In all likelihood, at the same time, Clovis eliminated the influence of other kings of the Salic Franks by various methods. Inspired by his initial successes, Clovis again attacked (with varying degrees of success) the Germanic tribes inhabiting Gaul. The expansion of the Alemanni in a western direction was stopped, which was probably due to the results of two military campaigns - one organized by the Franks of the kingdom of Cologne around 495-496, the second by Clovis I himself in 506 after Cologne passed into his hands. Thus, Clovis became the rightful owner of most of the territory that belonged to the Alemanni. Part of the population of the conquered lands was forced to seek refuge in the Ostrogothic kingdom of Theodoric the Great, the most influential Western monarch of that time.
According to traditional chronology, in the late 490s Clovis I conquered the lands between the Seine and Loire (including the cities of Nantes, Rennes and Vannes), after which he declared war on the Visigothic kingdom. In 507, at the Battle of Vouillet, Clovis inflicted a decisive defeat on Alaric II, which allowed him to take control of Aquitaine, located between the Loire, Rhone and Garonne, as well as Novempopoulan, located between the Garonne and the Pyrenees. Not wanting to put up with the hegemony of the Franks in the west, the Ostrogoth king Theodoric, having concluded a military alliance with the Visigoths, invaded their lands. Having been defeated in this war, Clovis was not only forced to abandon the capture of Septimania, a province located on the Mediterranean coast in the area between the Rhone and the Pyrenees, control over which the Visigoths retained, but also to come to terms with their occupation of Provence. At the same time, Clovis managed to achieve the liquidation of the small kingdoms in the eastern part of his possessions and thus became the sole ruler of the Franks.
Clovis I made Paris the capital of the newly formed kingdom. In 508, he received official recognition from the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire, Anastasius I, who granted Clovis the title of honorary consul and the right to use imperial symbols. The resulting privileges gave the power of the new king a certain legitimacy and were useful in terms of the loyalty of his Gallo-Roman subjects.
Baptism of Clovis I
According to the chronicle of Gregory of Tours, Clovis believed that the important victory over the Alamanni at Tolbiac (modern Zulpich) in 496 was won thanks to the intercession of the Christian god, whom his wife Clotilde persistently asked to recognize as his ruler. With the help of Bishop Remigius of Reims, leader of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, Clovis I was baptized with 3 thousand of his soldiers in 498. The authenticity of this event is disputed by modern historians, since the chronicler too obviously seeks to liken it to the baptism of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Scientists believe that in fact Clovis adopted Christianity no earlier than 508, and, moreover, did not convert to the Catholic faith directly from paganism, but at first preferred Arianism. Subsequently, Clovis nevertheless converted to Roman Catholic Christianity, which guaranteed the Frankish king support not only from the church hierarchs, but also from Catholics in general, who made up the majority of the population of his state. Clovis's decision led to the hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church and the decline of paganism and Arianism in Gaul, which subsequently saved it from the long and bloody religious conflicts that shook other Germanic kingdoms.
Sons of Clovis I
After Clovis's death in 511, the kingdom was divided between his four sons. The division was carried out without taking into account ethnic, geographical and administrative boundaries. The only factor that was taken into account was the equal value of the property received by each of the heirs. When determining the value of an inheritance, the income received from it by the royal (and formerly imperial) treasury was taken into account, which consisted of collecting land and trade taxes. The boundaries of the division were determined extremely carelessly.
The lands of Clovis I included two main areas: the territory north of the Loire, part of Gaul, was conquered earlier; the other in the south, Aquitaine, was still not assimilated. Clovis's eldest son, Theodoric I, born to one of the king's German wives before he married Clotilde and converted to Christianity, received lands in the region of the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse rivers, as well as the Massif Central. Clodomir inherited the region in the Loire Valley, the only kingdom that did not include territories separated from each other. Childebert I inherited the areas adjacent to the English Channel and the lower Seine, as well as, probably, the cities of Bordeaux and Saintes and their surroundings. Chlothar I passed the ancient Frankish region north of the Somme River and a weakly fortified area in Aquitaine. The capitals of all the newly formed kingdoms were concentrated in the Paris Basin, divided between four brothers: Theodoric received Reims, Chlodomir - Orleans, Childebert - Paris, Clothar - Soissons. After the death of one of the brothers, his heirs divided the lands they inherited among themselves. This order of things invariably led to internecine clashes, which continued until 558, when, after the death of the last of his brothers, Clothar managed to restore the unity of the Frankish kingdom under his rule.
Conquest of Burgundy
Due to constant divisions, the Frankish kings continued their wars of conquest. One of their main goals was complete dominance in Gaul. It took two military campaigns to defeat the Kingdom of Burgundy. In 532, Chlodomir, Childebert I and Clothar I, as allies of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great, invaded the lands of Burgundy, whose ruler, Sigismund, Theodoric's son-in-law, killed his own son. Sigismund was captured and executed. The new Burgundian king, Godomar II, defeated the Franks at the Battle of Vézerons and forced them to retreat; Chlodomir was killed in this battle. In 532-534. Childebert I, Clothar I and Theodoric I's heir, Theodebert I, began a new offensive campaign against the Burgundians. As a result, Burgundy was defeated, and its territory was divided between the Frankish kings. After the death of Theodoric the Great in 526, the Franks took advantage of the weakening of the Ostrogothic kingdom and annexed Provence to their possessions. Thus, all of southeastern Gaul up to the Mediterranean coast came under the rule of the Frankish rulers. They, however, failed, despite two military expeditions (531 and 542), to establish control over Septimania, which was in the hands of the Visigoths. Also, at least part of Armorica in northeastern Gaul remained outside the Frankish sphere of influence. It was during this period that British colonization of the western part of the Armorican Peninsula reached its apogee.
Conquest of southern Germany
In the east, the Franks also managed to significantly expand their possessions by subjugating the southern German kingdoms. These included Thuringia (around 531, Chlothar I managed to capture the niece of the Thuringian king Radegund, who later became his wife), part of the territory of Alemannia, located between the Neckar River and the upper Danube (after 536), as well as Bavaria. The latter was transformed into a Frankish-controlled duchy around 555. Meanwhile, in northern Germany, the successes of the Franks were not so obvious. In 536, they imposed tribute on the Saxons, who inhabited the area between the Elbe, Ems and North Sea rivers, however, the latter raised an uprising in 555, which was crowned with success.
Theodebert I, and subsequently his son Theodebald, equipped more than one expedition to Italy to participate in the war between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines (535-554), but they failed to achieve long-term success.
Grandsons of Clovis I
After the death of Clothar I (561), the Frankish kingdom, which by that time had become the most strong state The West was again divided, this time by his four sons. The partition agreement was based on similar document 511, adjusted for the added territory. Guntram took possession of the eastern part of the kingdom with its capital in Orleans, which increased due to the annexation of Burgundy. The allotment of Charibert I consisted of the old Kingdom of Paris (the Seine and English Channel region), with the addition in the south of the western part of the old Kingdom of Orleans (the Lower Loire valley) and the Aquitaine basin. Sigibert I received the Kingdom of Rheims, which included the conquered German provinces; its share also included part of the Massif Central (Auvergne) and the territory of Provence (Marseille). Chilperic I's allotment was limited to the Kingdom of Soissons.
The death of Charibert (567) led to further division. Most of the land acquisitions fell to Chilperic, who took possession of the region of the lower Seine, including a large section of the coastline in the English Channel region. The remaining lands, which included Aquitaine and the area around the city of Bayeux, were divided in a very intricate way; Paris, meanwhile, came under collective ownership. The partitions of 561 and 567, which established the fragmentation of the Frankish kingdom, became the source of much intrigue and family clashes. Mainly the struggle was waged between two irreconcilable camps: on the one hand there were Chilperic I, his wife, the former slave Fredegonda and their children, under whose control were the lands in the northwestern part of the Frankish lands; the other party consisted of Sigibert I, his wife, the Visigoth princess Brünnhilde and their offspring, who owned territories in the northeastern region of the kingdom of the Franks.
Border conflicts
The above-mentioned events undermined the power of the Frankish state. In Brittany, the Franks still managed to keep the eastern regions in their hands, however, they had to repel regular raids by the Bretons, who founded densely populated settlements in the west of the peninsula. In the southwest, the Gascons, a mountain people from the Pyrenees, were driven north by the Visigoths and settled in Novempopulan in 578; Several military expeditions of the Franks were not successful and the region was not conquered. In the south, the Franks failed to establish control over Septimania; they tried to achieve this goal with the help of diplomatic treaties, supporting them with dynastic marriages, and also carried out military operations, the reason for which was religious contradictions (the Visigothic kings professed Arianism). In the southeast, Lombards, recently arrived from Italy, made several raids on Gaul (569, 571, 574); Frankish expeditions to Italy (584, 585, 588, 590), led by Childebert II, were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Avars, a people of uncertain origin who settled along the banks of the Danube in the second half of the 6th century, threatened the eastern borders; in 568 they managed to capture Sigebert, and in 596 they attacked Thuringia, forcing Brünnhilde to pay them tribute.
Disintegration of the state
Internal conflicts led to the emergence of new political configurations. By the time of the divisions of 561 and 567, new political and geographical formations had arisen within the borders of Gaul. The regions of the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse, formerly part of the Kingdom of Rheims, formed the basis of Austrasia, to which the areas of the eastern coast of the Rhine, conquered by Theodoric I and his son Theodebert, were also annexed; Sigibert I (died 575) moved the capital to Metz to capitalize on the brisk trade on the Rhine. Neustria appeared as a result of the division of the Kingdom of Soissons; later, part of the Kingdom of Paris also entered here, providing Neustria with a wide coastal strip and making the valley of the lower Seine its center. The first capital of Neustria, Soissons, was returned to Austrasia after the death of Chilperic I; Paris, under the control of Chilperic, became the new capital. Kingdom of Orléans, except western region, but with part of the annexed Burgundian lands, later became Burgundy; Guntram chose the city of Chalon-sur-Saône as his capital. The territory of Aquitaine, controlled by the Frankish rulers, advanced further to the north of Gaul; its ancient settlements were the subject of numerous divisions carried out by sovereigns who exploited them in every possible way. At that time, Aquitaine was deprived of any political autonomy.
Reunification attempts (613-714)
Chlothar II and Dagobert I
The process of disintegration was partially overcome and initially seemed to be reversed in the first third of the 7th century. Chlothar II, son of Chilperic I and Fredegonda, king of Neustria since 584, seized control of Burgundy and Austrasia in 613 (and brutally executed Brünnhilde), thereby re-establishing a unified Frankish state. Paris was proclaimed the capital in 614, where it was convened state council, at which Clothar recognized the traditional rights of the aristocracy (Gallo-Roman and Germanic) in order to gain its support in governing the country. Clothar's successor, his son Dagobert I (ruled 629-639), managed to maintain the unity of the state. He visited Burgundy, where he established the highest political office of majordomo, then went to Austrasia and finally, arriving in Aquitaine, granted it the status of a duchy. Thus, an imperial-style state structure was established.
Concerning foreign policy, Dagobert achieved very modest success. In 638 he managed to force the Bretons and Gascons to recognize supreme power The Frankish king, however, in fact, relations with these peoples remained rather insignificant. Dagobert intervened in the dynastic conflict that flared up in Spain, where he invaded with his army and reached Zaragoza, however, having received a generous tribute, he turned his troops back. Septimania remained under the rule of the Visigoths. On the eastern border, skirmishes between Frankish merchants and Moravian and Czech Slavs arose every now and then; After an unsuccessful military campaign led by Dagobert himself with the help of the Lombards and Bavarians (633), the Slavs attacked Thuringia. The Frankish king was forced to enter into a treaty with the Saxons, who agreed to defend eastern borders his states in exchange for a reduction in the tribute they paid to the Franks starting in 536. Thus, Dagobert used the traditional policy of the Roman Empire when, to protect it state borders more or less Romanized barbarian tribes were involved.
Hegemony of Neustria
Territorial conflicts arose again in 639. In Neustria, Austrasia and Burgundy, power gradually passed into the hands of the highest aristocracy, in particular the mayors. One of them, Ebruan, who ruled Neustria, tried to unite the kingdom under his leadership, however, he encountered fierce opposition. The resistance in Burgundy was led by Bishop Leodegar, who was killed around 679 and subsequently canonized. Austrasia was ruled by majordomos from the Pipinid dynasty, who received this right as a token of gratitude for the support of Clothar in his fight against Brunnhilde; Pepin I of Landen was replaced by his son Grimoald, who unsuccessfully tried to make his son Childebert the Adopted king; then the title passed into the hands of Pepin II of Geristal, whom Ebruan managed to keep from taking power for some time (around 680).
The power of the Frankish kingdom was once again tested in the border regions and especially in the east, where danger loomed over Austrasia. The Thuringians (640 and 641) and the Alemanni managed to restore their independence. The Frisians reached the mouth of the Scheldt River and took control of the cities of Utrecht and Dorestad; the attempt to baptize Frisia, undertaken by Wilfrid of Northumbria, was unsuccessful. In southern Gaul, Duke Lupus proclaimed Aquitaine an independent principality.
The hegemony of Austrasia and the strengthening of the power of the Pipinids
The assassination of Ebruan (680 or 683) changed the situation in favor of Austrasia and the Pipinids. Pepin II defeated the troops of Neustria at the Battle of Tertry in 687, which allowed him to reign supreme over the northern regions of the Frankish kingdom for the next decade. Austrasia and Neustria were subsequently united under the rule of a succession of Merovingian kings, who retained most of the traditional powers, while Pepin II himself took the influential position of majordomo. Through the efforts of Pepin, it was possible to partially restore the borders in the north of the Frankish state; he forced the Frisians to retreat to the northern Rhine region and restored supreme power over the Alemanni. At the same time, Pepin and his allies were never able to establish control over southern Gaul. At the beginning of the 8th century, Provence maintained the status of an autonomous duchy, while Burgundy was in a state of political fragmentation.
Carolingians
Representatives of the Merovingian dynasty retained their royal title until 751. The court chroniclers of the Carolingians (it was under this name that representatives of the Pipinid family went down in history) mercilessly branded the Merovingian monarchs, calling them idlers on the throne. Despite the fact that many of the later Merovingians inherited the throne in infancy and died early, they managed to exert at least some influence on the course of affairs in the country until the beginning of the 8th century, however, starting from the 720s, they finally turned into puppets . The real power in the kingdom was gradually taken over by the Pipinids, who, thanks to their extensive land plots and a large number loyal vassals retained a monopoly on the position of majordomo. Due to the Pipinid tradition of giving their offspring the name Charles, as well as the enormous role that Charlemagne played in the history of this dynasty, modern historians call it Carolingian.
Charles Martel and Pepin III
The death of Pepin II in 714 threatened Carolingian hegemony. Pepin's heir was his grandson, whose guardianship was entrusted to the king's widow, Plectrude. Meanwhile, an uprising broke out in Neustria and Ed the Great, Duke of Aquitaine, decided to take advantage of the situation to expand his own possessions, for which he entered into an alliance with the Neustrians. The position of the Frankish kingdom worsened even more when its borders were invaded by the Saxons who crossed the Rhine and the Arabs who crossed the Pyrenees.
Charles Martell
In this difficult situation, Pepin's illegitimate son, Charles Martell, took control of state affairs. Having defeated the troops of Neustria at Amel (716), Vinchy (717) and Soissons (719), he became the de facto ruler of the northern part of the Frankish state. Next, he restored the power of the Franks in southern Gaul, where the local authorities were unable to provide worthy resistance to the Muslim invasion; Martell defeated the Arabs at Poitiers (Battle of Tours 732), after which a favorable situation arose for the conquest of Aquitaine (735-736). Having suffered a painful defeat, the Muslim invaders turned their forces against Provence, to whose aid Charles Martel sent several expeditionary forces. Meanwhile, the campaign launched by Martel to pacify the breakaway provinces in the southeast continued successfully; during the years 735-738, all of them, with the exception of Septimania, were again included in the kingdom of the Franks. In the end, Martell managed to restore Frankish influence in Germany. Having spent a brilliant offensive operation, he pushed the Saxons beyond the Rhine, subjugated the Bavarians and annexed southern Frisia and Allemania. Being a talented commander, Charles Martel also had the wisdom of a politician, and therefore provided special patronage to the missionary activities of the Catholic Church, rightly believing that the spread of the Christian religion would strengthen the authority central government. Charles's greatest support came from the Anglo-Saxon missionaries, the most prominent of whom was Winfried (the future Saint Boniface), who spread Christian faith east of the Rhine. The activities of the Anglo-Saxons were sanctioned by the Pope, who was looking for political rapprochement with Western Europe, where it was at this time that the authority of St. Peter noticeably increased. As a result of the tireless missionary work of Saint Boniface, who received the personal blessing of the pope, the connection between the Catholic Church and the Frankish kingdom was significantly strengthened.
Charles Martell supported the accession to the throne of the next nominal Merovingian king, Theodoric IV (reigned 721-737), but after the death of the latter he felt his position was stable enough to leave the throne vacant. The main support of Charles’s power was the circle of devoted associates who formed the basis of his army and ensured the uninterrupted replenishment of its ranks with recruits. Martell attracted new allies mainly by distributing vast land plots confiscated from the church for eternal use. As a result, Karl managed to gather under his banner such a number of strong associates that other influential magnates could only dream of.
Pepin III
After the death of Charles Martell in 741, the powers and land holdings The actual ruler of the kingdom of the Franks was divided between his two sons - Carloman and Pepin III the Short. Very soon after coming to power, Martell's heirs faced the danger of disintegration of the state; A series of uprisings followed in the peripheral duchies of Aquitaine, Allemania and Bavaria. The rebellions were subsequently successfully suppressed, however, fearing new unrest, Pepin and Carloman were forced in 743 to place on the Frankish throne the new Merovingian king Childeric III, who could barely be found in a remote monastery, where he led the modest life of a hermit.
Carloman's departure to the monastery in 747 led to the concentration of power and money of the Carolingian dynasty in one hand. Having received the title of majordomo, Pepin III became the de facto ruler of the Frankish kingdom, however, the existing precarious state of affairs did not satisfy him, and therefore he set out to consolidate his status by ascending to the royal throne. Pepin's plan was carried out with the support of the papal throne, which was faced with the invasion of the Lombards and was in conflict with Byzantium, and therefore needed a reliable ally in the west. The official reason for Pepin's coronation was a letter he sent to Pope Zacharias in 750, in which the contender for the Frankish crown asked a reasonable question about who should rule the country, the bearer of real power or a nominal title, and received the answer he was counting on. In 751, Pepin removed Childeric III from power, assembled a council of influential magnates, officially proclaimed him the new king, and was elevated to the rank of bishops of the Catholic Church. Thus, the era of the reign of the Merovingian dynasty ended. The new Pope Stephen II (or III) needed military support from the Franks; in 754 at Pontion, he bestows on Pepin III the title of "Patron of the Romans", restores the coronation rite and anoints Pepin and his sons Charles and Carloman, thus giving legitimacy to the new dynasty of monarchs.
During his reign, Pepin III the Short managed to consolidate control over Gaul, which laid the foundation for further expansion of the Carolingians. The situation on the German borders, despite all the efforts of Pepin, remained very unstable; the Duchy of Bavaria, given over to Thassilon III, gained independence in 763; several expeditions to subdue the Saxons were unsuccessful. On the other hand, Pepin III won a decisive victory in southern Gaul, taking Septimania from the Muslims (752-759), broke the resistance of Aquitaine, and it was again included in the Frankish kingdom (760-768), also at the request of the Pope conducted two successful military campaigns against the Lombards (754-755 and 756), which laid the foundation for the future papal state (the so-called “Pipin’s Gift”). Pepin achieved undoubted success in the political field, establishing diplomatic relations with the great powers of the eastern Mediterranean - Byzantine Empire and the Baghdad Caliphate. Finally, he became a worthy successor to his brother Carloman in reforming the church and the religious life of society.
Charlemagne
Pepin III remained faithful to ancient customs, and after his death in 768, he left a will, according to which the kingdom of the Franks was divided between his two sons - Charles (who went down in history under the name of the Great) and Carloman. The transfer of power, however, did not go smoothly. Charles faced a serious rebellion in Aquitaine and the hostility of his brother, who refused to send his troops to suppress the rebels. Carloman's death in 771 saved the kingdom from inevitable civil war. Having deprived his nephews of their rights to inheritance, Charles united the Frankish state under his sole authority.
Conquests
Charlemagne consolidated his power throughout the territory within the old borders of Gaul. Despite the fact that he managed to suppress a new uprising in Aquitaine (769), Charles was unable to achieve complete submission on the part of the Gascons and Bretons. However, Charlemagne significantly expanded the boundaries of his dominions and united most of the Christian West. Without a clear expansion plan, Charles continually took advantage of opportunities to seize new territories.
Charlemagne paid great attention to policy regarding the Mediterranean. In Spain, the Frankish king tried to exploit the internal problems faced by the Emir of Cordoba; in the west he failed to achieve significant success, but in the east, through the efforts of Charles, the Spanish March was created, a state entity designed to protect the Frankish kingdom from attack by the Arabs. Continuing the policies of his father, Charlemagne invaded Italy. At the call of Pope Adrian I, whose territories were constantly threatened by Lombard raids, Charles first captured their capital, Pavia, and then assumed the title of Lombard monarch. In 774, Charlemagne fulfilled Pepin III's promise by founding a papal state; The situation in Italy, however, remained tense, and troops had to be sent there every now and then. The expansion of the Mediterranean possessions allowed Charles to establish a protectorate over the Balearic Islands (798-799).
Charlemagne expanded the possessions of the Frankish kingdom in German lands, securing the eastern borders of his state. Through military campaigns and missionary activity, Charles managed to subjugate Saxony and northern Frisia; The Saxons, led by Widukind, managed to organize a long resistance (772-804), which was broken only by brutal methods, destroying and evicting most of the population. In the south, the Franks managed to regain control over Bavaria, which later became part of Charlemagne's empire. In the east, the Carolingian conquerors encountered new tribes; Charles conducted three successful military campaigns against the Avars (791, 795, 796), forced to pay a huge tribute to the Frankish king; Charles managed to found a mark in the middle reaches of the Danube, where the Carolingians subsequently pursued a successful policy of colonization and Christianization. The Elbe River was designated by Charlemagne as a border protecting his state from attacks by northern Slavic tribes. On the other hand, the Danes themselves built a powerful fortification - Danevirke - stretching across the isthmus of the Jutland Peninsula and designed to stop the Frankish expansion. Meanwhile, Charlemagne founded the city of Hamburg in the lower reaches of the Elbe, which became a reliable outpost of the Franks on the North Sea coast.
The time has come for the hegemony of the Frankish kingdom in Western Europe. Charlemagne, declaring himself a defender of the interests of the Roman Catholic Church, intervened in the military conflict on religious grounds that broke out in Spain. At the same time, a theological dispute arose between Charles and Byzantium, aggravated by a border dispute in Italy and the question of the use of the imperial title; the conflict between the two great powers ended with the signing of a peace agreement (810-812). Charlemagne continued his father's peacemaking policy towards the Muslim East; An exchange of ambassadors took place with the Caliph of Baghdad, who granted Charles special privileges in Jerusalem.
Rebuilding the Empire
Having become the ruler of most of the Western world by the end of the 8th century, Charlemagne revived the empire in his own name. He was crowned emperor at Rome on Christmas Day 800; Pope Leo III, who had survived an assassination attempt by rivals a year earlier, hoped that the restoration of imperial power in Western Europe would protect the institution of the papacy. Charles's influence on Rome and its relations with the papal state, incorporated with autonomy into the Frankish kingdom, were thus finally clarified. Although Charles's new title did not replace his previous ones, it allowed him to officially establish himself as the sole ruler of the old Roman West. The title of Holy Roman Emperor was intended to demonstrate the Frankish monarch's desire to integrate the states of Western Europe; on the other hand, according to the succession plan developed by Charlemagne, the kingdom of Italy retained its borders and was transferred to the management of one of his sons, Pepin, and Aquitaine was given the status of a kingdom under the leadership of another son of Charles, Louis. The ongoing dispute with the Byzantines over the imperial title led to Charles's reluctance to officially assign it to his heirs; it is likely that the great ruler considered the imperial regalia as a personal badge of honor for his grandiose achievements.
Louis I
The revived Western Roman Empire could maintain its unity only under the leadership of Louis I the Pious, the last son of Charlemagne. Louis was crowned in 813 by his father, who died a year later. The era of great conquests was a thing of the past, and the main direction of the policy of the new emperor was concern for relations with the peoples of the north. In order to ward off the threat from the Vikings, who began raiding the coastal settlements of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Louis I proposed Christianizing the Scandinavian peoples. The mission was entrusted to Saint Ansgar, who failed in this field.
During the reign of Louis, the imperial bureaucracy was greatly streamlined. Louis the Pious viewed the empire primarily as a spiritual ideal, and in 816, in a special ceremony, he was anointed king and crowned emperor by the Roman pontiff. At the same time, Louis took steps to manage his father's inheritance as a single public education, for which he issued a special capitulary in 817. According to its terms, Louis's eldest son, Lothair I, was appointed the sole heir to the imperial title, however, three separate kingdoms remained within the borders of the empire: Aquitaine and Bavaria came under the control of the younger sons of Louis I, Pepin and Louis, respectively; Italy was given to his nephew Bernard. Louis changed the terms of the treaty with the papal throne, issuing a pact in 817, thanks to which the emperor received priority in relations with Rome.
Louis's marriage to Judith of Bavaria and the birth of his fourth son, the future king Charles II the Bald, complicated the situation with the succession to the throne. Despite opposition from Lothair, who received the support of supporters of state unity from among the church hierarchs, the emperor set out to create a new kingdom for the newborn Charles. Conflicts of interest led to the weakening of Louis's power; his state plunged into a series of internal conflicts. Louis managed to suppress the rebellion of his three eldest sons in 830, however, already in 833-34 the emperor was faced with a larger rebellion. In 833, at Colmar, Louis was betrayed by his allies and forced by his eldest son Lothair to abdicate the throne and publicly repent. Judith of Bavaria and her son Charles were separated and exiled to remote monasteries. Having seized power, Lothair began to abuse it so openly that he eventually forced his brothers to call Louis back to the throne. Lothair, who was in disgrace, managed to achieve Louis's forgiveness only shortly before the latter's death.
Division of the Carolingian Empire
Treaty of Verdun
After the death of Louis the Pious in 840, his sons renewed their intrigues to change the order of succession to the throne. In 842, in Strasbourg, Louis II the German and Charles II the Bald entered into an alliance against Lothair I. After a series of armed clashes, the bloodiest of which was the Battle of Fontaine, the three brothers concluded a truce, signing the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The empire was divided into three parts: Louis II received the East Frankish Kingdom, Lothair I received the Middle Kingdom, and Charles II took the West Frankish Kingdom. The three monarchs received equal rights; Lothair retained the symbolic title of emperor and the capital - Aachen.
Kingdoms created at Verdun
Until 861, the clerical faction tried to impose a form of joint government on Charlemagne's successors, for which many conferences were called, but were unsuccessful due to the fierce rivalry between the brothers and their associates.
The Middle Kingdom turned out to be the least stable among the newly formed states, which negatively affected the efficiency of the imperial institutions located on its territory. After the death of Lothair I in 855, the territory of the kingdom was divided between his three heirs: the lands north and west of the Alps were divided between Lothair II (Lorraine) and Charles (Provence), and Louis II received Italy and the title of emperor. In 863, the king of Provence died, and his state was divided between his brothers Lothair (Rhône region) and Louis (Provence). Lothair II died in 869, after which Lorraine was divided by his uncles, Louis the German and Charles the Bald. However, Louis was not able to gain control of his part until 870. As a result of the partition, Charles became master of the regions of the Rhone River that were part of the ancient kingdom of Provence, and Louis concentrated his efforts on fighting the Muslims who threatened the Apennine Peninsula and the papal territories.
The main concern of the ruler of the West Frankish kingdom, Charles the Bald, was the fight against the Vikings, who regularly devastated the lands along the Scheldt, Seine and Loire rivers. Increasingly, the king was forced to pay huge sums of gold and silver to get rid of uninvited guests. Meanwhile, Aquitaine remained the subject of fierce territorial disputes. For a certain time (until 864), Pepin II had a group of adherents there, to fight against whom Charles the Bald elevated his sons to the Aquitanian throne: first Charles III the Child (ruled 855-866), and then Louis II the Zaika (ruled in 867-877). The main reason for the lack of stability in Aquitaine was the intrigues of the local nobility, who did not want to strengthen the power of the monarch. Taking over more and more counties and founding large dynasties, the magnates were very successful in creating vast principalities in the still unstable border territories: Robert the Strong and Hugh the Abbot in the west; Robert's son - Ed around Paris; Vulgrin, Bernard of Gotha and Bernard Plantvelu, Count of Auvergne, in Aquitaine and border areas; Boson in the southeast; Baudouin I in Flanders. However, in spite of everything, Charles the Bald still remained the most influential overlord of Western Europe, so in 875 Pope John VIII approached him with a proposal to accept the imperial title. Heeding numerous calls from the pontiff, Charles headed to Italy at the head of his army, intending to stop the Arab invasion, however, the campaign failed, as a result of which the magnates of the West Frankish kingdom rebelled. On his way home in 877, Charles the Bald died. The reign of his heir, Louis II the Zaika, lasted only two years. After his death in 879, the kingdom was divided by his two sons, Louis III and Carloman. In the southeast, meanwhile, Boson, Count of Vienne, proclaimed Provence a kingdom. The imperial throne remained vacant. Louis III died in 882 and sole ruler The West Frankish kingdom (with the exception of Provence) became Carloman II.
In the East Frankish state, the central government managed to maintain significant control over the aristocracy. However, centrifugal tendencies associated with the interests of regional rulers manifested themselves in the form of revolts led by the sons of Louis II the German. By decree of the latter, in 864 the division of the East Frankish kingdom took place, as a result of which Bavaria and the Eastern March went to Carloman, Saxony and Franconia to Louis III the Younger, and Alemannia (Swabia) to Charles III the Tolstoy. Despite the fact that Louis II the German managed to acquire part of Lorraine in 870, he could not prevent Charles II the Bald from achieving the imperial title in 875. In 876, Louis the German died, and the division of his kingdom was officially approved. After the death of Charles the Bald, the son of Louis the German, Carloman, captured Italy and declared his claims to the title of emperor, however, poor health prevented him from achieving his goal. Meanwhile younger brother Karlomana - Karl the Fat, taking advantage of the current situation, managed to restore the unity of the empire. Carloman died in 880, and Louis the Younger died two years later. Neither left heirs, which allowed Charles the Tolstoy to first gain the crown of Italy (880), then the imperial title (881), and finally unite the East Frankish kingdom under his rule (882). After the death of the ruler of the West Frankish kingdom, Carloman II, the magnates ignored youngest son Louis II the Stutterer - Charles III the Simple, elected Charles the Fat as his new king in 885. Refusing to interfere in the affairs of Italy, despite numerous calls from the Pope, Charles decided to concentrate his forces on the fight against the Vikings, who had resumed their predatory raids on the lands along the Scheldt, Meuse, Rhine and Seine rivers. However, all efforts were in vain, and in 886 the Frankish king was forced to pay a generous tribute to his opponents so that they would go home; it got to the point that the robbers managed to besiege Paris, whose inhabitants fought courageously under the wise leadership of Count Ed. In 887, the magnates of the East Frankish kingdom rebelled and overthrew Charles the Fat from the throne.
Based on materials from the Britannica encyclopedia
Translation from English by Andrey Volkov
Medieval chroniclers traced his ancestry to the Trojans - Priam or Aeneas. Modern historians believe that Pharamond is a fictional character.
The Merovingians got their name from their supposed grandson. At the same time, there is a legend that the wife of the Frankish leader gave birth to some kind of sea monster. The first leader of the Franks, whose name appears in documents, was son. And his son accepted Christianity and the royal title.
A distinctive feature of the Merovingians was very long hair. They considered themselves descendants of a god who also wore curls. Long hair was considered a sign of Merovingian divinity, a symbol of royal good fortune, and an exclusive royal prerogative. Members of the royal family have not had their hair cut since birth. Cutting their hair was the greatest shame for them. Ordinary Franks, on the contrary, had to wear short hair. Therefore, in literature, the Merovingians are often called “long-haired kings.”
In the 6th-7th centuries, the Franks, led by the Merovingians, captured almost all of Gaul and mixed with the local Romanized population. Three kingdoms arose on the territory of Gaul -, and. Each kingdom had its own traditions and its own nobility, which defended their own rights from the encroachments of foreigners. From the ranks of the highest aristocracy he was usually chosen as major. Formally considered "rulers of the palace", the majordomos were the most powerful officials in the kingdom. Taking advantage of the fact that as a result of civil strife, the Merovingian clan thinned out, and the kings began to ascend to the throne in early childhood, the mayors acquired unlimited power, completely pushing the legitimate kings into the shadows. They, however, did not interfere in state affairs and did not seek to strengthen their position. The only task of the last Merovingian kings was marriage and the birth of an heir, the next puppet king. No wonder the Merovingians, who ruled after, were nicknamed “lazy kings.”
It got to the point that after his death in 737, Charles Martell did not appoint a new puppet king, but continued to rule on his own, issuing decrees on behalf of the late king and dating them to 737. Only in 743, under pressure from the nobility, he elevated a certain person to the throne, declaring him his son. In 751, he sent an embassy to Pope Zacharias with instructions to ask the pontiff: is such a system of government fair in which the one who does not use royal power is called king? Zachary responded to this that the king should be the one who owns the royal power. In November of the same year, he convened a general council of the Franks in Soissons, which elected him king. was deposed, tonsured as a monk and exiled to the Sityu monastery, where he died a few years later. His son Theodoric was hidden in Fontenelle Abbey. Thus ended the reign of the Merovingian dynasty ingloriously.
In the 20th century, interest in the Merovingian dynasty was revived after a certain Pierre Plantard declared himself a direct descendant and created the Priory of Sion, a fictional secret society proclaimed to be the successor to the Templar Order.
Representatives of the Merovingian dynasty
King of Burgundy and Paris
, king of Neustria, Austrasia, Burgundy and Aquitaine
, King of Austrasia
, king of the Franks
, king of the Franks
, King of Austrasia
, King of Austrasia
, king of the Franks in Reims
, king of the Franks in Reims
, King of Austrasia
, king of the Franks in Reims
, King of Burgundy and Austrasia
, king of Neustria and Burgundy
, king of the Franks
, leader of the Salic Franks
, King of Paris
, king of Aquitaine
, king of the Franks
, king of Austrasia, Burgundy and Paris
, king of the Franks
, king of the Franks
, king of Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy
The mystery of the Merovingian dynasty is even more foggy than the mystery of the Cathars and the Knights of the Temple - reality and fiction are so closely intertwined here.
Descended from the Sycambri, a Germanic tribe better known as the Franks, the Merovingian family ruled during the 5th and 6th centuries over vast territories that became France and Germany. Let us not forget that this era was also the era of King Arthur and served as the backdrop for the great romantic Grail cycle. Without a doubt, these years, the darkest of the time which was incorrectly called the “dark Middle Ages,” are in our eyes much less gloomy than they were deliberately obscured.
Image of Merovey on coins
Education and culture, as we know, were at that time the monopoly of the Catholic Church, and the information relating to this period that we have comes from its sources, the Church, the rest has disappeared or been destroyed. Sometimes, fortunately, despite the silence or ignorance that has surrounded this era for too long, despite the veil of caring
Throwing a hand at their secret, some detail could leak out and reach us. A word, a date suddenly emerged from the shadows, and thanks to them, it was possible to restore a fascinating reality, so different from what official History had taught us.
The origin of the Merovingian dynasty is fraught with numerous mysteries.
Indeed, the concept of dynasty usually evokes a family or "house" reigning in the place from which predecessors have disappeared, been expelled, or have been deposed. Thus, the War of the Scarlet and White Roses in England was marked by a change of dynasties; then, a hundred years later, the Tudors disappeared and the Stuarts ascended the throne, in turn through the Houses of Orange and Hanover.
There was nothing like this in the history of the Merovingians - no usurpation, no rudeness, no extinction of the previous dynasty. It seems that they have always ruled France and have always been recognized as its rightful kings. Until the day when one of them, whom fate marked with a special sign, gave his name to the dynasty.
Merovingians - one of the most mysterious dynasties of Europe Image of Meroving on coins
The historical reality concerning this Merovech (Merovech or Meroveus) is completely hidden by legend. This is an almost supernatural character belonging to the great classical myths, even his name testifies to his miraculous origin, for in him the French words “mother” and “sea” find an echo.
Merovingians - one of the most mysterious dynasties of Europe Merovians
Merovei
According to the chief Frankish chronicler and subsequent legend, Merovei was born of two fathers. Indeed, they say that, already pregnant, his mother, the wife of King Clodio, went to swim in the sea; there she was seduced and kidnapped by a mysterious sea creature - “the beast of Neptune, similar to the Quinotaurus,” also a mythological animal. Perhaps this creature made the queen pregnant a second time, and when Merovei was born, two different bloods flowed in his veins: the blood of a Frankish king and the blood of a mysterious sea monster.
A common legend from antiquity and subsequent European traditions, you say. Of course, but like all legends, it is far from being completely fictional, but is symbolic and hides a specific historical reality behind its wonderful appearance. In the case of Merovey, this allegory means the transfer of foreign blood to him by his mother or the mixing of dynastic families, the consequence of which was that the Franks were associated with another tribe that came, perhaps, “from across the sea.” Over the years and with the development of legends, it, for some unknown reason, turned into a sea creature.
So Merovian was born, invested with the most extraordinary power, and from that day, whatever the historical reality based on the legend, the Merovingian dynasty found itself surrounded by an aura of magic and the supernatural that would never leave it.
Merovingians - one of the most mysterious dynasties of Europe Merovingian family tree
Merovingian family tree
If you believe the legends, the Merovingian kings, following the example of their famous contemporary Merlin, were adherents of the occult sciences and all forms of esotericism. However, they were often called “sorcerer” kings or “miracle workers”, for they possessed, as legend again says, the miraculous power to heal only by the laying on of hands, and the hands hanging on the sides of their robes had the same healing properties. They also had the gift of clairvoyance and extrasensory communication with animals and the forces of nature around them, and they were said to wear a magical necklace around their necks. Finally, they were declared to have a mysterious formula that protected them and guaranteed longevity - a gift that, however, is not confirmed by History.
On their body there was a birthmark that testified to their sacred origin and made them immediately recognizable: a red spot in the shape of a cross was located either on the heart - a curious anticipation of the Templar coat of arms - or between the shoulder blades.
The Merovingians were also called "kings with long hair." Following the example of the famous Samson from the Old Testament, they actually refused to cut their hair, which contained all their “valor” - the essence and secret of their supernatural abilities.
The reasons for these beliefs are unknown to us, but they seem to have been taken very seriously at least until 754, when Childeric III was deposed, imprisoned and, by the categorical order of the pope, his hair was cut off.
Merovingians - one of the most mysterious dynasties of Europe Deposition of Childeric III
Deposition of Childeric III
No matter how ordinary they may seem, these legends are still based on specific and indisputable phenomena of reality, namely those that relate to the special position that the Merovingians occupied during their lifetime. In fact, they were not considered kings in the modern sense of the word, but rather priest-kings, the earthly personification of the omnipotence of God, as the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were before them. They did not reign by the grace of God, but were its living representatives, the incarnation - a quality usually recognized only in Jesus Christ. Their rituals were more priestly than royal. Thus, the bodies of some Merovingian monarchs were discovered, bearing ritual incisions on their skulls, similar topics, which can be seen on the skulls of the ancient great Buddhist priests of Tibet; these cuts allowed the soul to leave the body at the moment of death and come into contact with the divine world.
Shouldn't the tonsure of priests therefore also be attributed to this ancient Merovingian practice?
Even initiation into Christianity for the Merovingians seemed to be sent down from above. This happened during the invasion of the Huns, and later the Almandians. Once, during a decisive battle with the enemy, when the advance of the Alamans was especially fierce, and it seemed that nothing could save the Franks from complete defeat, Clovis, the grandson of Merovey, remembered how his wife Clotilde told him about the Savior, about the Christian faith. .. And right on the battlefield, Clovis prayed: “Oh, merciful Jesus! I asked my gods for help, but they turned away from me. Now I think that they simply cannot help me. Now I ask you: help me cope with my enemies! I believe you!" As soon as he uttered the last words, the Franks struck the enemy particularly successfully, and the Alamans were plunged into a panicked retreat. Clovis's conversion to Christianity took place in Reims in 496. Since then, all the kings of France have been baptized in this city.
In 1653, a Merovingian grave was found in the Ardennes, with great importance; it was the burial place of Childeric I, son of Merovey, father of Clovis, the most famous representative of the dynasty. The grave contained weapons, treasures, various jewelry and badges that are usually found in royal burials. But there were also items related to this
more in the realm of magic and witchcraft than royalty: a severed horse's head, a bull's head made of gold, and a crystal ball.
The Merovingians are one of the most mysterious dynasties of Europe. The seal ring of King Childeric, father of Clovis
Merovingians - one of the most mysterious dynasties in Europe Image of Childeric I on a coin
Signet ring of King Childeric, father of Clovis
One of the sacred symbols of the Merovingians was the bee, and there were about three hundred such bees made of gold in Childeric’s grave; the entire contents of the tomb were given to Leopold William of Habsburg, military ruler of the Austrian Netherlands and brother of Emperor Ferdinand III.
The Merovingians are one of the most mysterious dynasties of Europe Bees from the tomb of Childeric
Bees from Childeric's tomb
However, all these treasures would later return to France, and from the time of his coronation in 1804, Napoleon made bees the main decoration of his ceremonial vestments.
Merovingian Power
Clovis
According to legend, Saint Remigius, who baptized Clovis, predicted that the reign of his dynasty would last until the End of the World. Despite the overthrow that occurred in 751, this prediction cannot but be considered true. It is known that through one of the female lines the Carolingians descended from the Merovingians. The kinship of the Carolingians and Capetians laid the basis for the medieval model of the unity of the three dynasties. In its context, the descendants of Clovis were all, almost without exception, the kings of France, as well as many other countries, including the Spanish Bourbons, who have retained power to this day. Some Russian rulers were also descendants of Clovis, in particular Ivan the Terrible and later representatives of the Romanov dynasty.
MEROVINGIANS
First royal dynasty Frankish state, whose representatives occupied the throne from the end of the 5th century to 751. The founder of this family is considered to be the semi-legendary Merovey, whose origin is shrouded in mystery.
After the Franks split into two branches - Salic and Ripuarian, the first established themselves in the territory of northern Gaul. According to legend, the first king of the Franks was Chlodion (ruled 426–447); after him, in the middle of the 5th century, Merovey (reigned 447–457), from whose name the name of the dynasty comes, became the king of the Salic Franks, according to legend.
This legendary personality could boast of a completely extraordinary origin: Merovey was the son of... a sea monster! In any case, that's what the ancient legend said. Apparently for this reason, in the earliest works of art of the Merovingian period there is a motif depicting a serpentine monster.
However, the chronicles of the Merovingian dynasty naturally adhere to a different version. They unequivocally claim that this genus originates from... the Savior! It was Jesus Christ, according to one ancient author, who was the ancestor of Merovei. For many centuries, this version was considered nothing more than a beautiful fiction. But perhaps the skeptics were a little hasty with such a categorical statement.
Several years ago, the American writer Dan Brown published the book “The Da Vinci Code” (it only appeared in our country in 2004). In the book, according to the author, we're talking about about “the most grandiose conspiracy of the last millennia,” the essence of which boils down to the following: Christ had... a wife and children! This means that the blood descendants of the Savior currently live next to us, but the church simply hid this fact for two thousand years.
Brown claims that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene; soon after Christ made his last way on Golgotha, he had a child. Mary then fled with the baby to Gaul, where the family of Christ laid the foundation for the Merovingian royal dynasty.
Brown, by the way, was not the first to put forward the idea of the existence of the Savior’s descendants. In addition, his version constantly receives quite serious confirmation. The Code states that in all centuries of our era there was a secret order called the Priory of Sion. It usually included the most talented people of each era. Thus, Leonardo da Vinci, Victor Hugo, and Isaac Newton were members of the order at one time. Such chosen ones kept information about the “mystery of Christ” and passed it on to their successors. True, Leonardo da Vinci could not resist the temptation to tell the world such impressive information. He encoded the secret of the Priory of Sion in the Last Supper fresco. To the right of Christ in the picture, the artist placed not the Apostle John, as was commonly believed, but Mary Magdalene... But this means that the relationship between the Savior and the “harlot” was so close that Jesus brought the woman to the Last Supper!
The figure of a man sitting to the right of Christ indeed strongly resembles a woman’s. In addition, Brown's idea was highly approved by some researchers. Thus, Victoria Hatziel, who is considered one of the most authoritative “Leonardologists” in the world, has established: in the famous painting by da Vinci “Madonna in the Grotto” and to the right of Christ at the “Last Supper” the same person is depicted, namely Mary Magdalene. The researcher is sure that the brilliant master painted a woman, not a young man; Moreover, a very specific lady served as his prototype, and he depicted her so carefully that when comparing both works there can be no doubt: before us is the same person. Confirmation of Haciel's hypothesis was also found in the notebooks of da Vinci himself. They revealed a recording where the master was thinking about who to use for posing when working on the characters of The Last Supper. And below are the words: “Magdalene, Giovannina from the hospital of St. Katerina's face." So, the fresco still depicts a woman?!
American historian Margaret Staberd also points out that the text of the gospels contains hints that the Savior was married. For example, the Gospel of John says: Mary Magdalene “anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair.” But, according to Jewish custom, only his wife could wipe a man’s feet with her hair! And three days after the crucifixion, Magdalene came to the crypt where Christ was buried. If we again turn to the customs of ancient Judea, on the third day it was the widow who was obliged to come to the man’s grave... So Mary was called a “harlot” for two thousand years without any justification. And there is no such word in the literal translation; it would be correct to speak of Mary Magdalene as “unclean.” This is what they called... pregnant wives. According to Jewish tradition, a woman left her husband before the birth of a child.
Especially a lot of evidence that the Merovingian chronicles do not lie is contained in the so-called apocrypha - the gospels that are not recognized as canonical by the church. Several dozen of them have survived, and the church recognizes some of the apocryphal texts indirectly; for example, the Orthodox holiday of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary is celebrated only thanks to one of these gospels. So, the Gospel of Philip directly testifies: Magdalene was the friend and wife of the Savior... The same information appears in other ancient non-canonical texts. They were cited in the book “Was Jesus Married” (1970) by the Presbyterian pastor Phillips, who argued that it could not be otherwise, since at that time an unmarried adult Jewish man became almost an outcast in society.
There is evidence that Magdalene, having fled to Gaul, also described the life of her unusual husband. However, centuries later, the hierarchs of the early Christian church tried to consign this document to oblivion. Brown says those who knew the truth kept it quiet because they didn't want to risk it. “The history of mankind was written by the victors - those religions that defeated their rivals and survived. Many centuries ago, Christian priests decided: it is not appropriate for the son of God to have worldly aspirations. Therefore, Magdalene and her child were simply erased from the life of Christ,” says the author of the scandalous book. But it never occurred to anyone to take the Merovingian chronicles seriously. But it is quite possible that they are not lying, and Mary Magdalene and her child, born of the greatest and most mysterious figure in human history, marked the beginning of the first royal dynasty of the Frankish state.
If experts have serious reasons to doubt the historicity of the figure of Merovey, then Childeric (reigned 457–481), initially forced to flee his state due to the uprising of the Franks dissatisfied with his policies, is quite historical figure. This man is now considered the actual founder of the first ruling dynasty of France. History has brought to us, in particular, references to the victory of Childeric I over the Alamanni in 471 and the subsequent struggle between him and Egidius. The honor of creating the Frankish kingdom proper belongs to the son of King Childeric and Basina, Queen of Thuringia, Clovis I (466–511; reigned 481–511).
Having inherited from his father power over the Salic Franks, who lived in the Meuse River valley, this, perhaps the most famous representative of the Merovingian dynasty, launched a campaign aimed at subjugating the Ripuarian (Rhine) Franks, who once inhabited the middle reaches of the Rhine. Then Clovis decided to get rid of the remains of Roman settlements in central Gaul. In 486, the king managed to carry out his plan, defeating the troops of the former Roman governor Syagrius at the Battle of Soissons. He chose to flee from the Franks to King Alaric in Toulouse; Clovis, having learned where his defeated enemy had gone, sent Alaric a polite warning: if the Roman was not handed over to him personally, the Franks would go to war against the Visigoths. The monarch did not dare to argue with his warlike neighbor, who was very determined. He handed over the bound Syagrius to the envoys of Clovis, and the Roman was immediately taken into custody.
But, having taken control of the lands of central Gaul, Clovis did not stand on ceremony with the captive: Syagrius was secretly stabbed to death with a sword.
In 493, the king of the Franks married the Burgundian princess Clotilde. Since the Merovingian's wife was an orthodox Christian, she almost immediately began to persuade her husband to convert to his faith.
In 496, Clovis, who, in addition to his talent as a commander, was distinguished by his remarkable abilities as a politician and diplomat, nevertheless decided to convert to Christianity according to the Roman rite. Three thousand close associates followed his example. Clovis was prompted to take such a decisive step by the desire to secure the support of the Roman clergy. With the help of a change of faith, the Merovingian secured many privileges for himself and defended his lands from the encroachments of other barbarian kings: at the end of the 5th century they were still Arians or pagans, so Clovis began to be supported by the Roman church, Remigius of Reims (he, in fact, baptized the king Franks) and other influential bishops. Having secured such powerful support, Clovis defeated Burgundy in 500, thereby taking revenge on his wife's brother for the persecution and murder of her parents. Following this, the Merovingians significantly expanded their own possessions, winning a large piece of land from the Visigothic kingdom - from the Loire to the Garonne. The wars of Clovis I with the Alemanni were equally successful. In 507, the warrior king managed to annex Aquitaine to his state. After this, even the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I did not argue about the legality of Clovis’s seizure of these territories. He chose to recognize the right of the warlike and overly zealous Frank to the conquered lands and granted the Merovingian the title of consul.
It was under Clovis I that the first written code of Frankish laws was created, called the Salic Truth. Moreover, the most distinguished of the Merovingians made Paris his residence; Here he was buried - first in the Church of the Holy Apostles, where the grave of St. Genevieve, and then to Saint-Denis, next to the king’s wife Clotilde. Subsequently, Clotilde was canonized.
Before his death, the ruler decided to make sure that his four sons did not conflict with each other, and divided his possessions between them. According to Clovis's decision, each of the Merovingians of this generation independently used the allotted allotment and had practically unlimited power. However, the Frankish state nevertheless remained united! The fact is that Clovis ordered that the sons' possessions continue to remain a single whole. In general, Clovis I had five children, but daughters traditionally did not inherit the Frankish throne; The king's eldest son, Theoderic, also had reason to worry about his future, since he was born out of wedlock. However, Clovis insisted that Theoderic be recognized as his heir along with his legitimate sons.
However, after Clovis I passed away, a period of feudal fragmentation began in the history of the kingdom and the reign of the brothers was not distinguished by peace and prosperity, their relations became increasingly strained. As a result, almost the entire time during which the sons of Clovis were in power, wars with external enemies and civil strife raged in the country. Finally, in 558, all of Gaul came under the rule of Clothar I, who reigned until his death in 561: the unification of the kingdom occurred solely because the brothers of the new monarch died. But already in 561, the lands of the Franks were again divided between the four sons of the monarch.
After the second collapse, three separate states gradually emerged from the kingdom created by the efforts of the Merovingians - Burgundy, Austrasia and Neustria, which were still ruled by representatives of this dynasty. As for Aquitaine, it was considered a disputed territory for a long time. Meanwhile, for the Merovingians themselves, a dark period had come: in 561–613, members of this royal house were mired in brutal crimes, violence and murder. Two queens especially “distinguished themselves” in this - Brünnhilde and Fredegonda, who unleashed a bloody war. It’s probably worth telling about these ladies separately.
The Frankish queen and ruler of Austrasia, Brünnhilde (c. 534–613), was the daughter of the Visigoth king Atanagild. In 567, she became the wife of King Sigibert I of Austrasia. Brunnhilde's sister soon married Sigibert's half-brother, King Chilperic of Neustria. However, this union turned out to be extremely unsuccessful. Chilperic, incited by his mistress Fredegonda, hastened to get rid of his young wife by killing her. And Fredegonda took the place of the rightful queen of Neustria. Then Brünnhilde forced her husband to lay claim to those cities that the king of Neustria received as a dowry for his murdered wife. Among these cities, trade centers such as Bordeaux and Limoges were of particular importance. Naturally, Chilperic refused to return the assigned territories, and then Sigibert began a war against a relative who had lost his honor and conscience. At first, the advantage was on the side of Austrasia, but in 575 Sigibert died as a result of a carefully planned assassination attempt. It is believed that the same Fredegonda was behind the next murder. Brunnhilde, who lost her wife, was captured by the enemy and imprisoned in Rouen. In order to gain freedom, in 576 the widow of Sigebert agreed to marry one of the sons of Chilperic and Fredegonda - young Merovey, who, in fact, was fit to be her son. But Chilperic refused to recognize this union as legal (knowing his relative, he perfectly understood that such a step on her part was nothing more than a banal trick). Nevertheless, after the marriage, Brünnhilde still received a certain freedom, which she did not fail to take advantage of. The queen fled to the then capital of Austrasia, Metz, where at that moment her son from Sigebert, Childebert II, reigned.
The Austrasian nobility opposed Brünnhilde and her son, so these Merovingian representatives had to fight for power for many years. The aristocrats calmed down somewhat only after the death of Brünnhilde. And she outlived her own son: in 595 or 596 (it is not known exactly) Childebert left this world, leaving behind two heirs. Theodebert II took the throne of Austrasia, and Theodoric II took the throne of Burgundy.
In order to maintain actual power in her hands, the “loving” grandmother of the rulers... set her grandchildren against each other! In 612, a conflict between the heirs of Childebert II led to the overthrow of the monarch of Austrasia. True, Theodoric did not have time to reap the fruits of his victory: he passed away the following year. Then the nobility once again rebelled against the tyranny of Brünnhilde, who did not disdain the actual destruction of her own grandchildren. Only now the actions of the aristocrats were more rigid and coordinated. To get rid of the bloody queen, the Austrasians called for help from the heir of Chilperic, Chlothar II. The defeated Brünnhilde was executed...
Chlothar II (ruled 584–629, in Neustria until 613), son of Fredegonda, managed to calm down his opponents. In 613, he again united all three kingdoms under his rule. The Frankish power once again became a single state. However, it was from the reign of Chlothar II that the power of the Merovingians began to weaken. Already in the conflict between the two queens, which preceded the accession of Clothar II, the increased independence of the nobility was clearly evident. In 614, the king, by a special edict, was forced to grant large and small feudal lords a number of privileges. In particular, local royal stewards, who bore the titles of counts, were now appointed exclusively from among local landowners; they received significant tax breaks. As a result, the king's rights were limited, and the influence of the magnates began to increase noticeably. Finally, the latter, through the rulers - the mayors - managed to seize both supreme power in the kingdom and power over the army.
In 629, Clothar II died. He was succeeded by two of the monarch's sons: Dagobert (c. 603–638) and Charibert. Austrasia and Burgundy almost immediately came under the rule of Dagobert I, and the new king managed to “convince” Neustria of his right to own all three Frankish states. But after Dagobert secularized church property (by doing this he tried to find a way out of the situation into which his father had driven him with his edict), the clergy began to openly show dissatisfaction with the rule of the son of Clothar II, and the Merovingians lost their last support. The clergy quickly managed to restore the people against the monarch. The problem was complicated by the fact that the monarch's heirs did not have the talents of a commander, politician and administrator. In essence, the Frankish crown was now passing from one mediocrity to another. None of Dagobert's successors (all of whom were nicknamed "lazy kings") showed themselves to be capable of ruling the country. Because of this, the mayordomos began to gain strength again, and began to dominate all three states more and more actively, gradually concentrating all real power in their hands.
The history of the Merovingian family ended ingloriously. In the 8th century, Major Pepin the Short (714–768) finally got rid of them. He suppressed external enemies and practically destroyed internal ones (at least no one would risk competing with Pepin). Finally, this worthy man decided to interrupt the rule of the Merovingians, which had long ago turned into a fiction, and take the throne completely officially. To implement such global plans, Pepin needed serious support and - just in case - absolution... Therefore, the majordomo hastened to secure the blessing of Pope Zachary II (he could not forget about the secularization of the church's possessions). Having agreed with the pontiff, Pepin the Short underwent the rite of anointing and was proclaimed king. And the last of the Merovingians, Childeric III, was simply confronted with a fact: the crown of his ancestors no longer belonged to him... Thus ended the history of the reign of the descendants of the legendary Merovian, and power over the three Frankish states passed into the hands of the first representative of the new Carolingian dynasty.
True, Pepin the Short did not kill his unlucky predecessor. He simply ensured that Childeric II and his only son were forced to take monastic vows in November 751, after which the last of the Merovingians were confined to a monastery. The tonsure of the king and his heir did not make any impression on his contemporaries. The deposed Hild Erik lived for a long time, but did not have any strong supporters who would help him return the throne of his ancestors.
This text is an introductory fragment.
